


City of the Dead

by stormbornkhalx



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Mummy setting, F/F, Light Angst, Maybe Some Pining, Some Cursing, so here we go again, some mummies, some violence, the author only barely knows what's happening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:55:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26515573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormbornkhalx/pseuds/stormbornkhalx
Summary: Hamunaptra. The city of the dead.It's a cursed place with a great evil lurking beneath the sand. What else is there to do, other than unleash said evil upon the world?Another AU that absolutely no one asked for, this one inspired by one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time: The Mummy (1999).
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 27
Kudos: 71





	1. Prologue

**Egypt, 1920.**

Growing up in the Cession, in the United States, Raelle Collar thought she knew what summer heat was. Now that she was in the middle of the desert, with not relief in sight, she knew that a Cession summer may as well have been winter. What she wouldn’t give for a Cession summer. And some moonshine. And maybe a swig of water.

But preferably a bottle of moonshine.

Those living in the Cession had few prospects in life, and the U.S. military exploited that. They offered a steady job, halfway decent pay, and housing. What more could a person want?

That was what drove Raelle to enlist, just as her mama had.

And that was how she found herself in the middle of the Egyptian desert, marching along with her entire platoon to a place that didn’t exist. Well, in fairness, her platoon had been on loan from Fort Salem to the British military – a favor extended from the United States to a favored ally. It was the British military that sent them to Libya, and from there, it was the platoon commander that marched them out of Libya and into Egypt. The platoon had abandoned its post, if they didn’t get back before someone noticed, they’d all be labeled dodgers - deserters.

Apparently, the promise of treasure beyond imagining was worth deserting the military.

If they really did find something, they could simply buy their way out of trouble. Raelle could go home. That was enough to keep her putting one foot in front of the other in the shifting sands. Their commander and more than half the platoon thought this place was real. Thought the treasure buried in the sand was real.

Hamunaptra. The City of the Dead.

Against all the odds, the platoon found what they were looking for. In the middle of the desert, a city of ruins rose up from the sand. It was a sprawling necropolis, though time had taken its toll on the city. They didn’t have enough supplies left to camp for more than a day or two, but finding the city breathed life back into the soldiers.

“Can ya believe it, Rae?” a young man asked as they surveyed the perimeter of the ruins. “This place is actually real. All those ghost stories turned out to be true.”

Raelle sniffed once as blue eyes swept over toppled columns and walls half-buried in the sand. “The sooner we get out of here, the better,” she replied. “This place ain’t right, Porter.”

Porter scoffed and nudged her with his shoulder. “Right or not, don't matter if we're rich.”

“A few shiny coins ain't going to change the fact that we don't have enough food and water to get back to our post,” Raelle pointed out, irritated. The unrelenting sun was getting to her. As was the fact that this had been a stupid idea in the first place.

“We don't need to go back if we find the treasure, _Captain_ ,” Porter said, still enragingly blissful. “The treasures of Egypt are under our feet! We could buy our own post, our own military, our own damn country!”

Something caught Raelle's attention. A sound on the wind, like sharp cries. Her attention turned back to the open desert plain. On the horizon, dust rose like murky smoke.

“Shit,” she swore, staggering back. “We've got trouble.” She swung around, boots digging into sand to gain traction. “Colonel! Colonel, incoming hostiles!”

Raelle didn't think it was possible to track someone through the desert. Apparently it was, because it sure looked like someone followed them. They were woefully unprepared for an attack. After more than a week of marching through sand and heat, they needed rest, food, and water.

Not to pick a fight.

“Everyone to the front line!” the Colonel yelled, directing the platoon to the first wall guarding Hamunaptra.

Travel weary soldiers trudged through the sand to defend their prize. They knelt behind the wall, which was almost completely buried. Just enough of it was sticking up to provide a small amount of cover. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

A group of riders came into sight, seeming to fan out endlessly as they got closer. It became all too apparent that the American soldiers were greatly outnumbered.

They waited for orders from the Colonel, but nothing came. As Raelle looked over to where the Colonel was standing, the man stayed in place for only a moment before throwing down his rifle and running.

“Looks like ya just got promoted,” Porter commented from beside her.

“Shit,” Raelle cursed. “Everyone steady!” Her voice rose up over the yells of their incoming attackers. “Steady!”

Two more soldiers broke rank and ran.

“You’re with me this time, right, Porter?” Raelle asked.

“Definitely,” he answered with a firm nod.

“Steady!” Raelle called out again. The armed riders were closing in on them fast, but she wanted to make sure they didn’t break off and scatter too soon. It was only when the others around her began shifting nervously that Raelle gave the order to engage. “Fire!”

A smattering of gunfire filled the air, and some of the oncoming riders toppled off their horses. However, when the Americans opened fire, so did their attackers. The fight that they were wholly unprepared for quickly descended into chaos. Soldiers were falling left and right, and they weren’t felling near enough of their enemies.

As the riders began to breach the soldiers’ cover, more of Raelle’s comrades began to run – including Porter. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him stagger up to his feet and drop his weapon. “Hey! Port- you son of a bitch!” she yelled after him.

Raelle stood, but didn’t run. She fired the bolt-action rifle as quickly as she could reload it. There was nowhere to retreat to, nowhere to hide, no one to come to their rescue. This was a fight that was life or death, and if she was going to die in this damned desert, she was taking plenty of people with her.

One rider's horse leapt over the wall just a breath from where Raelle stood her ground, and she felt the sharp sting of a blade. It sliced her face from chin to cheekbone, but at least she was still alive. With a quick turn on her heel, she shot the man in the back.

As they were completely overrun, with no end to the riders in sight, Raelle knew that if she stayed where she was, she would definitely not be walking away. She turned and ran, dropping the rifle now that she was out of ammunition for it. She grabbed the revolvers from her shoulder holsters, noticing a dark, wet stain forming on her grey uniform jacket.

There was no time to stop and take care of her wound, though. As she ran further into the ruins, she shot the riders she could see around her. But with only six shots a piece, her revolvers became useless fast. Soon, it became a mad dash to try and find somewhere that the attackers might not find her.

Raelle spotted Porter, as he ran toward what looked to be an entrance into the ruins. “Porter!” she yelled after him. “Hey, Porter!”

He turned and made eye contact with her when he got inside. And he maintained eye contact as he rolled the massive stone door into place.

“Porter!” Raelle hissed. She got to the stone slab and pushed on it, but it wouldn’t budge. “You’re the worst!” Suddenly, she ducked as bullets peppered the stone around her. “Shit.”

Raelle shoved herself away from the entrance, running further into the ruins. There were five riders pursuing her and gaining ground fast. She’d never be able to outrun them. But if she could find another entrance like that bastard had…

Suddenly, Raelle came to a stop. She’d run herself into a dead end – high walls on each side and only one entryway into the area. She glanced up, seeing the face of a dog-faced god, whose name she didn’t remember. Raelle turned to face her pursuers, backing up until she bumped into the statue.

The riders thundered into the area, raising their rifles. Five bullets and near point-blank range... well, at least she’d finally get to rest.

That was when she heard it. 

Strange whispering coming from everywhere and nowhere. It was a language she didn’t know, or maybe it wasn’t words at all. She couldn't be sure. Ahead of her, the horses reared and whinnied, panicking. They gave their riders no choice in leaving, as the animals turned to run away from the area.

Raelle relaxed for only a moment, before nearly jumping out of her skin. Sand was thrown into the air, whatever force that did it unseen. It was thrown about in all different directions, and Raelle decided that that was more than enough reason to follow the horses’ lead. She scrambled away from the statue, having a hard time getting her footing as the sand shifted all around her.

Whatever strange happenings were going on had sent the last of the attackers fleeing back into the desert. Raelle stumbled through the dead city, past bodies of dead soldiers and whoever had just attacked them. Though it was less than honorable, Raelle searched the bodies she could for anything that would help get her back through the desert. If she was going to make it on her own, she needed at least a little bit of water.

Raelle didn’t care what became of Porter. He could rot in this city as far as she was concerned.

It wasn’t until after the sun had set that Raelle left Hamunaptra. Her chances of making it back to civilization increased if she traveled during the cool night, rather than the sweltering day.

As she set out into the dark expanse, Raelle didn’t notice a small group of riders watching her from a cliff.


	2. An Accident

**Three years later…**

How had Raelle Collar found herself sitting in chains, in Cairo’s overcrowded prison?

Well, it all started three years ago, when her platoon deserted the U.S. military…

But, the immediate events leading to her current predicament had only just happened within the last few days. She remembered being at the bar, though that night was a little hazy. She _may_ have had one or two too many to drink. 

What she remembered with perfect clarity was someone – a woman – picking her pocket of one of the few things she’d managed to drag out of the desert after the disaster at Hamunaptra. It was some sort of puzzle box she had found, half-buried in the sand on her way out of the dead city. The other two things were her life, and a scar left behind by some marauder’s blade.

After her pocket had been picked, she _may_ have instigated a massive bar brawl in her efforts to retrieve said puzzle box. The only thing that brawl got her was arrested, and being arrested revealed that she was a deserter from the U.S.

All those events brought her to where she was currently: sitting in chains and waiting for the gallows. The prison was more than happy to execute any deserters that wound up in their custody, for a small fee paid by the military from which the prisoner deserted. The prison officials were certainly generous in that regard.

She never should have followed her platoon away from their post.

It hadn't been a bad run, these last couple years floating around Cairo. She got into a little bit of trouble here and there, of course. It was just her nature. This wasn't how she imagined spending the last years of her life, though. And she never imagined her end coming in the form of a noose. 

Lost in thought, Raelle didn’t see a pair of guards coming toward her cell until the door clanged open. She jolted upright, eyes wide. “Come on, fellas, can't we talk about this?” she asked them, assuming her number was up.

They were speaking quickly in Arabic, and Raelle could only pick out a few words. Maybe she should have tried a little harder to learn the language.

Still, something stuck out among the rest.

“Visitors? I don’t get visitors,” she pointed out. The guards didn’t seem to care, or maybe they didn't understand her, as they dragged her out of the barred cell. Still expecting to be taken straight to the gallows – because surely, she had misunderstood – Raelle struggled against their hold. It didn’t work, and suddenly she was blinded by the bright light of the sun as they shoved her out a door. Her eyes didn’t even have time to adjust before she was shoved up against more bars, and her knees were kicked out from behind her, forcing her into a kneeling position.

When her vision finally began to clear, she saw three women standing on the other side of the bars, at a safe distance. Raelle felt all the air rush out of her lungs, as her gaze settled on the woman in the middle. She was… the most beautiful woman that Raelle had ever seen. Dark hair, pale skin, and eyes that the ocean would be jealous of. Forget the treasures of Hamunaptra, the real treasure was standing just feet from her, looking at her with a mix of concern and interest.

Raelle knew that she had to look an absolute mess. She hadn’t seen her own reflection since being imprisoned, but she knew that she was filthy, hair a tangled mop, and her clothes were in tatters. Too bad she couldn’t make a better first impression on the brunette.

Not that it really mattered in the long run.

“This is her,” the warden announced, and Raelle finally noticed his presence.

“What’s she in prison for?” the redhead of the group asked him, despite the fact that Raelle could answer for herself.

“Who are you?” Raelle spoke up, not liking that she was being talked about as though she wasn’t there. She let her attention turn to the redhead that had spoken, then to the last woman of the group. Now that lady… oh, she was familiar. Raelle knew exactly who she was.

“Um, my name is Tally Craven,” the redhead introduced herself jovially. “And this is Scylla Ramshorn, and Abigail Bellweather.”

Raelle’s eyes remained on Abigail, squinting a bit. “Don’t I know you?” she baited. That was the woman who had started all the trouble in the bar that night.

Yelling from across the square interrupted any answer she could have received. The warden yelled back in Arabic, then wandered away to deal with whatever problem had just popped up.

Now alone with the prisoner, save for the guards standing watch behind Raelle, the three women exchanged a look.

What the hell was going on?

After a moment, they moved closer as a group. “We work at the Cairo Museum of Antiquity,” Scylla spoke this time. Her voice sounded as enticing as she looked, and Raelle couldn’t help but be enchanted by her. Maybe it was the knowledge that her short life was going to come to an end any day now.

“You two work there,” Abigail corrected. “I just make sure nothing gets stolen.”

That was rich, considering Abigail had stolen from Raelle.

Scylla rolled her eyes, easing a cautious step closer to the bars separating them. “My friend here found your puzzle box… I was hoping you could tell me about it?” she requested.

Raelle studied Scylla for a long moment, then looked over the other two before her gaze settled back on the brunette. She knew what this was really about, if they were asking about the box. “No,” she shook her head. Scylla was clearly taken aback. “You want to know about Hamunaptra.”

Scylla’s brows rose sharply in surprise at being called out so plainly. “You know about the city?”

“Sure do,” Raelle offered a nod.

“How… how do you know?” Scylla asked.

“I was there.”

Scylla was clearly interested, but unsure. Plenty of people probably claimed to have been to the lost city. “You were there? You’re not lying to me?”

Raelle lifted a hand, tapping the scar on her face. “Got this while I was there,” she replied. “My platoon believed in that city so much, we marched out of Libya and into Egypt to find it.”

Scylla turned and looked over at Abigail and Tally. “What do you think?” she asked.

“It’s the best lead we’ve ever gotten,” Tally shrugged. “Why would she lie?”

“To get out of prison?” Abigail suggested, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Scylla’s attention swung back around to Raelle. “Could you tell me how to get there?”

“It ain’t a place you can take directions to,” Raelle shook her head.

Scylla looked at Abigail. “Do you think you could work something out with Swythe? Her dad is the warden.”

Abigail looked less than pleased with the suggestion. “I guess I could try.”

The prospect of getting out of prison wasn’t something Raelle had expected, but she wouldn’t get her hopes up.

After a moment’s hesitation, Scylla stepped closer to the bars. “Could you take me there?” she asked Raelle, her voice lower than it had been before.

“You really want to go to that cursed place?” Raelle waited, getting a nod in response. She lifted a hand and waved Scylla closer. “You’re really sure you want to go out there?”

“More than anything,” Scylla nodded.

Goddess, was Scylla gorgeous. She was close enough that Raelle could smell the rose and jasmine of her perfume. It put an impulsive notion in Raelle's head. Because honestly, what were the chances she would actually get out of this prison alive? Truly, it was naïve to even hope to leave the prison on her own two feet.

So, what was the harm in making all this mess worth it?

“Alright,” Raelle drawled, waving the woman closer yet again “Come here.” When Scylla had moved in close enough, Raelle’s hand shot out and grabbed the woman's chin, pulling her close enough to kiss her through the bars. When they parted, Scylla’s eyes were blazing with indignation while Raelle’s danced with mischief. “Get me out of here.”

Raelle’s hand fell and she grunted as she felt the guards’ billy clubs crack across her back. After a few strikes, she was yanked to her feet and dragged back toward the door.

“Get me out of here and I’ll take you!” Raelle called before the door was slammed shut.

The guards took Raelle back to her cell and dumped her unceremoniously back inside, all while berating her. Raelle lunged for the barred door, but it was shut and locked before she got there. She gave the bars a yank, but of course, they didn’t give way.

Perhaps she was lucky that they hadn’t taken her straight to the noose after that little stunt. But was it really luck if she was going to rot in this cell for however much longer?

Raelle turned away from the bars, shambling over to the stone bench that jutted out from the wall. She let herself drop onto it, making the chains around her wrists and ankles clank together. Lifting both hands, she rubbed her face and heaved out a sigh.

Well, at least she got to kiss the most beautiful woman in the world before she died.

Letting her hands drop again, she swung her legs up onto the bench and turned her body so she could lay back. There wasn’t much else to do in this place except wait for her inevitable demise. It did provide her time to rest, which it had always felt like she’d never gotten enough of.

Raelle didn’t even know she’d fallen asleep until the jangling of keys and clatter of her cell door opening startled her awake. She sat up, trying to quickly blink the sleep out of her eyes. There was a young woman at the cell door, swinging it open. She had the same dark, curly hair as the warden, but a fiercer gaze. Raelle certainly wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.

“Get up, hurry up,” the woman demanded.

Raelle didn’t exactly hurry, but she did get to her feet. “What’s going on?”

“Your buddies cut a deal for your worthless life,” the woman answered. She motioned Raelle forward, unlocking the shackles around her ankles and wrists. “You meet them at Giza Port at ten in the morning. If you don’t, well… one way or another, your name is going in the execution ledger. Either by way of _clerical error_ or you actually get hanged. Makes no difference to me.”

Raelle rubbed her wrists, once the metal shackles had fallen away. “Why are you helping me?”

“Not you,” she corrected. “I’d be just as happy to watch you hang, but Bellweather called in a favor to save your sorry ass. They left this for you, too.” She handed over twenty pounds. “I suggest you take a bath, you look and smell awful. And if you don’t meet them in the morning, you get to come back and meet the hangman.”

Raelle took the money with a perked brow. “Yeah… thanks.”

“Come on, I’ll show you the way out of here. After that, you’re on your own.”

Raelle followed the young woman through the prison, past droves of men packed into cramped cells. She felt bad for them, but couldn’t be happier that she was getting a pass out of this place. Even if that pass was going to come at a steep cost.

The courtyard where she had met the three women earlier in the day was now abandoned, and it struck her as odd that there wasn’t a guard in sight. Not even up on the wall.

They went to the main gate, and the young woman pushed it open. “Go, before the guards come back from their break.”

“I know you didn’t do this for my benefit, but thanks,” Raelle told her, stepping out into the street. She didn’t get a response as the gate swung shut behind her.

Raelle looked around, the streets of Cairo empty and lit by a nearly full moon. She glanced down at the money in her hand and for the briefest of seconds, she considered going to the closest bar. But, she’d made a promise and if she didn’t keep it, there was clearly going to be a spot ready and waiting for her in the gallows.

At least going to Hamunaptra had a chance of survival, no matter how slim.

Resolving herself, Raelle started off down the street. Hopefully the twenty pounds would be enough to get her back into her rented room so she could clean up, and in the morning, she would meet her saviors at the port.


End file.
